It's entirely optional, but it's something that you can only do if you have a good relationship between Sam and Will and you as will consent to it and are open to the idea of him being submissive.
The narrative of the plot changes if you don't do this, but there isn't a "correct" answer. -George
Yeah. It's kind of a strange thing to think about because "faithful" usually refers to religious institutions back in the day, and not breaking your vows. M/m and f/f relationships were often not seen as real or natural by these institutions.
A sex worker would generally want a lot of clients unless they could become a concubine to a rich patron.
Not to dismiss what you're saying, but there's another harmful stereotype about sex workers I try to be mindful of-- the idea that it's a terrible, desperate profession that folks are forced into because of hard times (aka the depiction you see in the Les Miserables musical).
A lot of women in the wild west and geishas in Japan found a new sense of agency and autonomy through sex work, and found themselves in economically stronger positions than they were used to. A lot of sex work was banned in parts of the world specifically as a reaction to women gaining political and monetary power through these means as a patriarchal response.
I didn't want to portray Sam's life as a sex worker as something miserable, even though he has a lot of cultural hangups and shame about doing it himself.
Sam likes sex, is good at it, and is making a living in a way he probably otherwise couldn't. I try to portray his work life and also write sex in a way that is meaningful to the plot-- but I also don't want to diminish the joy Sam has doing the act.
Keep in mind this Will is a character who likes BDSM and did some pretty kinky stuff with Sam in the previous intimate scene that they had together.
Sam was more or less reciprocating Will's desires in a later scene, which were discussed verbally prior to the scene, and enacted nonverbally after.
There's an aftercare scene I'll be writing in the future, but I just hadn't gotten there in the story at the time due to it being 15k words (which is already big for a monthly update.)
Thank you for reading, and I do hope you will revisit Will's route again some time, even though it's good to avoid triggers that you know will offput you.
Kane is chaotic and a bit villainous. I like him but I don't think he's supposed to be particularly endearing. Thanks for understanding though, and I appreciate that you're still reading. -George
That's weird. Apparently itch seems to be having a lot of issues as of late. At least that's what folks have been telling me for downloads with other games as well.
I'd delete any current builds you have from your machine and keep trying, but that's all I can think of.
To me it feels a bit disingenuous to say that the scenes are random or unsolicited when you have to have 4/5 points between sam and will, have to select that will is open to bottoming, and have to agree after a convo with kane for you to even have the chance to access the scene.
Basically, you would have to go against any impulse or notion that will wouldn't bottom or would not want this to get to see the scene in the first place.
You can't get that scene if you are not making those in-game choices.
I think if you didn't care for the scene, or the themes of the work I'm writing, that's fine and valid.
But I've also seen so much misinformation about this update from people that didn't read it closely, or just didn't plain read it at all.
Mostly, I wrote a scene about a closeted man overcoming his past trauma from his father and getting a second chance to explore his sexuality through a fun but intense hookup with a rowdy dom. I don't particularly regret it nor think it's bad development for Will, who actually wants to do things like this, but has a lot of past baggage about it.
At the end of the day, the writing speaks for itself, so if you don't enjoy the project anymore, my condolences, and I hope you find the stories that resonate with you.
Yeah, I can see why it can feel strange (especially for small town clueless cop like Todd, or will putting up with it), but I've definitely seen situations play out like this IRL where friends who aren't attracted to one another have sex with other people in the same room, so it's not like I personally think it's unbelievable.
This is a scene where a lot of characters are letting loose to put their minds off of the stress of what's going on and just let their instincts lead them to a small patch of enjoyment that they rarely ever get to have.
(I'd also say it was more of two twosomes in one room than a 4some, and that one of the twosomes turns into somewhat of a threesome with will x kane x sam, but that's just semantics haha.)
I think you're making a lot of assumptions about the characters (especially Will). I would recommend rereading the route.
I'd also recommend disentangling monogamous romance with morality considering the setting, the time era, and the groups of people involved in the story.
William is never forced into bottoming. Kane was just inflexible, and that was the only way Will was going to get to do anything with him.
Kane says during the scene they can waste the night if will doesn't act on his wants. You also don't get the opportunity to ever do the scene if you say will won't bottom as himself.
I set up Todd being bicurious fairly early, but I can see how the Todd stuff might *seem* a bit sudden in the pacing of the update.
I did want to portray some realism is how a lot of men in gay social situations can have their first experiences very suddenly and very abruptly.
I could pace the social scene out a little more before Will has an option to do the scene with kane or not, but that would be in an editing stage for later.
Not really meant to be uncomfy, actually. Kane and Will himself as the player give Will multiple outs to this situation but Will keeps at it.
The only uncomfy stuff is meant to be when will is struggling with his past memories vs. his present situation. The struggle is leaving the past behind and being fully in the present.
Hello! We tend to have to be conservative with which folks we do merch licensing with, since we also don't want to step on the toes of folks we already work with, so no promises, but I can totally look at a suggested business plan if you want to send me an email at wsquir20@gmail.com. I appreciate you reaching out.
Yeah that's fine. I do understand having an investment in a type of character and then maybe finding out that they aren't exactly what you were looking for, but I do hope you'll enjoy the different personalities and the social dynamics of these characters in what might feel like a less familiar setting. -George
The characters are quite different in how they engage with casual sex, and with who. There's a considerable amount of of in-text discussion about what characters are willing to do and under which circumstances.
Plenty of characters in this narrative are not interested in such things, but also a lot are, and there's a history of sexual casualty in western boom towns; there's a reason why I picked the POVs and social groups of mostly sex workers and gay men.
If you think any of the main characters having casual sex (sometimes with multiple people) is strange, just consider that they've all paid to have sex with a prostitute.
Players can choose whether or not they pursue those things, and choosing to do so does have an impact on the characters in the story.
I think they make sense for plenty of the characters considering I write them. But you're also not going to see such a heavy culture of romance or monogamy in the queer west in general considering most folks are forbidden from such institutions to begin with in this era.
Since we're writing based (loosely) on real historical events in TSR I don't think we'd want to cannonize a correct interpretation of a living religion if that makes sense? Very cool worldbuilding idea though.
These builds are made in parallel. It would be about "build 7" for most of the plots if you think about there being 4 routes.
So, most routes are about over half way finished. I'm probably going to focus on 1 route finishing once we get to the end of the current cycle if everything goes as planned on the art side of things. -George
All routes are about over half way finished and cliff's route is about 2/3 finished. You do not have to replay the game each time because there is a recent skip button function in the extras tab.
